Lost Little One
by Malluchan
Summary: Leo strays from his father's side one day and is found by a young woman. How will his brothers grow up without their ichiban? How will he change, raised among humans and with a mother instead of a father? Only time will tell.
1. Chapter 1

Silver Preston hustled along the sidewalks of Manhattan, scuffling her feet along the concrete. Head ducked low, eyes hidden behind her hair. Inconspicuous. That was the way to keep safe in the big city.

She turned into the alleyway silently. Not too fast. Not too slow. The grocery bag she carried bounced lightly against the side of her shin. The sun was low in the sky, and she shivered, pulling her jacket tighter around her and dropping the grocery bag at her feet as she went for the keys.

Then she heard a noise.

Silver froze. Unidentified noises in this neighbourhood were not something to be messed with. She stood stock still, listening with all her might, and sure enough - it came again.

It was a soft scuffling noise, like a cat playing with a ball of paper on a carpet. She turned her head slowly, eyes wide open to catch any sign of movement in the depths of the alley.

There was an overturned cardboard box in the very farthest corner. It was the only thing in the alley besides herself, the grocery bag, and two dumpsters.

_Sccchrfc._

There it was again. Silver fumbled with the keys, jamming them into the lock. She would have gone inside and holed up in her tiny apartment if not for one little noise, different than the rest. It was soft and pitiful and heartrendingly lonely.

It was the sound of a child crying.

* * *

Splinter looked up.

The soft beams of light slanting in through the grates above them were fading into a mellow cream colour; soon, he knew, they would be replaced by darkness. This was the only way to tell day and night in the sewers. There was no other sun.

As they passed a grate, his eyes traced the patterns of the dust mites illuminated within while his mind wandered to other things. Today had been a good day. He had taken his four sons out to explore the sewers, a learning opportunity; today they had gone farther than ever before. They were sufficiently tired now, he supposed.

He was suddenly jolted from his thoughts by the tug of small hands on the sleeve of his robe and his son calling out to him.

"...Sensei, Sensei", chanted Donatello from where he stumbled along at his father's side, three steps to every one of Splinter's own. Splinter stopped and turned to his son.

"Yes, My Son, what is the matter?"

"Leo'd not here, Sensei, he'd not here!" Donatello's eyes were wide with jittery excitement. "He'd gone!"

"What do you mean by 'gone', My Son?" Splinter was unconcerned. Perhaps his sons had decided to play a game of hide and seek while walking home, as they often did, and Leonardo was hiding too deep in the shadows for his brothers to see.

"I mean he'd not here!" insisted Donatello, waving his arms agitatedly. "I look'd around and he wadn't there!"

"Were you playing a game, My Son?"

"No, Sensei, we was just walkin'!"

Splinter saw the concern in his son's body language and stiffened. He whirled and saw that Leonardo was not behind him. He called his son's name several times, sweeping his gaze in all directions.

Leonardo was nowhere to be found.

Quickly he hurried back in the direction they had come, his remaining three sons struggling to keep up with him.

* * *

Silver stopped suddenly, trembling slightly from the adrenaline. She turned, her hand dropping to her side, keys in the door jingling softly. She waited.

There it was again. Soft sniffling and a little lonely whimper at the end.

Silver took a hesitant step forwards. And then another.

The box shifted slightly, and Silver froze again, then relaxed and continued her way towards it. Crouching beside it, she plucked at one of the flaps, then mustered her courage and lifted it up halfway.

She let it fall backwards, pulled by its own weight, and squinted at the tiny shape in its place. Big bright blue eyes stared up at her, the only thing she could make out in this light. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut for a moment to let them adjust, and then took another look.

It was an animal, on first impression. It had a shell like a turtle, and almost the same colour - it was hard to be sure in the dark, though. Perhaps it was a pet of someone. A band of tattered dark fabric lay around its neck, maybe the remains of a collar. Its elbows and knees were wrapped in stained fabric, and makeshift sandals were on its feet.

No, not a pet, then, for why would a pet need shoes? A child, as she had thought, with some sort of deformity. Or perhaps the shell was a backpack?

"Hey there, lil' guy", she said. "You get lost?"

A bunch of scenarios ran through her mind. It was hurt. Lost. Had run away. Homeless, or afraid.

"Yeah", he said. The voice of a child, for sure. He reached his arms out to her, so trusting, right off. Three fingers on each hand. Some deformity. Or maybe a horrible accident.

Silver scooped him up onto her hip. "Ya startled me there fer a second. Thought you were a burglar."

"Nuh-uh." She could feel him shake his head. He was shivering.

"Let's get ya inside, kiddo, okay? Then we'll see 'bout callin' your parents."

"My father doesn't have a phone", he said.

"Okay. Ya remember where ya live?"

"I don't know." He sounded as if he was about to cry again.

"Okay, okay. Calm down." They'd reached the end of the alley. She set him down to unlock the door. Illuminated in a streetlamp, he did seem like a real...turtle? But so big, and so humanoid...

"You wearin' a costume or what?" she asked him.

"No", he said. "I'mma real live turtle kid."

"Howzat possible?" She studied him for a minute.

"Sensei says I got mutated", he told her.

Silver shook her head incredulously. "Whatever, kid."

In hindsight, she should have been afraid. It could have escaped from a lab. Come in contact with radiation. It could have been an alien, for goodness' sake. But something Silver had picked up in the Brooklyn of her childhood was that it's all in the eyes. They're windows to the soul, you know, and all she could see through those bright blue windows was a lost little one, scared and tired, cold and definitely hungry.

The sun had left the sky and the stars were beginning to wink their little eyes from up above. They looked pretty, but darkness is the time when evil rules. Silver cast a narrow-eyed glance at the surrounding area as she scooped up the grocery bag, and then the kid. It was time to get inside.

* * *

Splinter searched the entire path up and down, running fast. On the walk there it had taken an hour, letting the boys explore everything they found; he scaled the entire place in the space of 15 minutes, peering down every side tunnel and grate as he hurried past. There was no sign of his eldest son.

Eventually Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael collapsed in the middle of the path as Splinter hurried up and down, calling out and peering in. They were weary. They could not keep up. Splinter cast a distressed glance in their direction and made a quick decision.

"Donatello, My Son, can you look after your brothers while I search for Leonardo?"

Donatello instantly straightened. "Yes, Master Splinter! I can do it!"

"Don't need no lookin' after", moaned Raphael from where he lay on the ground.

"Hush, Raphael. This is no time to make a fuss", Splinter told him sternly. He scooped up the smallest, Michelangelo, and took his sons' hands. "I will leave you at the lair", he said, already on the way. "Do not leave there! I already have one missing son! I want you all to sit quietly and do peaceful things!"

"Yes, Sensei", said Donatello immediately.

"Does playing with toys count?"

"My Son, do what you will so long as it does not go against my previous commands." Splinter had no time to dawdle over details.

Setting Michelangelo down near the steps to the lair, Splinter noticed that Michelangelo was shifting his weight back and forth from one foot to another, anxiously snapping his fingers. This was a trait he possessed whenever he thought he was about to get in trouble. Splinter pounced.

"Do you know where your brother is, My Son?" If anybody knew, it was Michelangelo. The worst at keeping secrets, yet the most privy to them. Splinter leaned down to Michelangelo's level in order to hear better.

"No, sir", said Michelangelo immediately.

"Do not lie to me, Michelangelo. You seem very distressed. Is something wrong?"

Michelangelo shook his head, slapping his hands over his mouth to keep the words from falling out.

"My Son, your brother is gone", said his father gently. "If you know where he is, you must tell me."

At last Michelangelo burst under the pressure. "Him went up", wailed the youngest of the four, pointing at the ceiling.

"Up? Up where, Michelangelo?"

"Up da ladder", said Michelangelo.

"The ladder to the surface?" Splinter's ears laid back of their own accord. Surely not! Not his eldest and most obedient son, not at this hour!

"Him told me not to tell", wailed Michelangelo, tears streaming down his small face.

Splinter straightened and then hurried to gather the things he might need. "Thank you, My Son. I must go. Donatello, I may be back very very late."

"Can we stay up and wait?" said Donatello eagerly.

"You may. But do not turn on the television", said Splinter absently. What if his son was hurt? Captured? Freezing to death?

As he hurried towards the entrance to the lair, he turned to Michelangelo. "Do not cry, My Son. Tears have their place. You must be strong now."

"Yes, Sir", said Michelangelo.

"Mikey gonna get in trouble?" asked Raphael softly.

"No, My Son. Secrets must be kept unless keeping them will result in hurting others. This is a lesson you must learn in time, but I cannot wait here to teach you. Remember the instructions I have given you and DO NOT LEAVE THIS LAIR", said Splinter in parting. And then he hurried up the tunnel.


	2. Chapter 2

Splinter surged around a corner, calling his son's name in case Leonardo had crawled back down the ladder and was making his way home. No sing of his son had jumped out at him yet.

He was puzzled very much by this predicament; Leonardo had been by far his most obedient son, willing to cooperate. He did not possess Raphael's strength, Donatello's intellect, nor Michelangelo's creativity, but he was very compliant with his father's rules and eager to learn. Of all his children, Splinter would have expected Raphael or perhaps Michelangelo to venture to the surface, if any; he warned them constantly against the dangers lurking above and reminded them relentlessly that they would not be accepted. He feared every day that one of them would stray, and here was his worst nightmare coming true. Leo was visibly the future leader of their small team, even at this age, and to lose that was heartbreaking. But first and foremost, this was his son!

Splinter's mind raced back and forth madly between topics. Leo was on the surface. His other three were home alone. What if Leo was captured or hurt? Would he cry for help? Who would be there? Who would feed the other three while he was gone? What if Michelangelo broke something and got hurt by the sharp parts and then Donatello panicked and couldn't do anything and Raphael came to find him but got lost and then he would have two sons lost and one hurt and -

Splinter forced his thoughts to still to a blank pool of calm. He was not usually like this. He shook his head, stopping for breath for a split second. Being a father could really bear down on you. And then he kept on.

* * *

Silver turned to gaze at the little creature sitting on her kitchen counter. The groceries were put away now, and she could pay attention to other things.

Her gaze swept up and down against his small body. He bore an alarming resemblance to a turtle, but how was this possible? She should have been afraid, she knew. She should have been apprehensive. But he was a child. His eyes held no hostility and no secrets. He was innocent.

"What's ya name?" she asked him. There must be some way to identify where he came from.

"Leo." The critter hugged himself, as though he was cold.

"Dat stand for somethin'?"

"Leonardo", he said, stumbling over his words.

"Leonardo." She rolled the words over her tongue cautiously.

"Like the artist", he told her.

"So what's your story, Leo?" asked Silver, setting him on the sofa with a blanket and sitting down.

"I lived in the sewer", he told her. "Sensei said it's dangerous here."

"'E got dat right, kiddo. What's up with the Sensei part a dis whole thing? He your teacher or somethin'?"

"He's my dad", said Leo. "He says to call him Sensei because he teaches us to be ninja."

"Huh. Who's us?"

"I have three brothers", Leo said eagerly. "Donnie's the smart one and Mikey's silly. Raph is the strong one. He doesn't like it when you take his toys."

"Don't imagine so", she said thoughtfully. "They turtles like you?"

"Yup. But Sensei's a rat."

Silver leaned back, letting her mind chew on all this. Strange, gigantic animals living in the sewer system of New York. Along with all the other danger out here. What if there was some sort of alligator down there, something potentially dangerous?

"I don't guess there's any other critters like y'all livin' down there?"

"No. It's just us five. You talk funny", said Leo.

"'Ey, kid, I'm from Brooklyn. From dis city, same as you. But dat's my business. Do ya think you could trace da way back to where ya live if I take ya down there tomorrow?" Silver gauged her time carefully. The kid could spend the night here. One night. Only one, she swore to herself. When she returned from work the next day she would take him back to the sewers where he belonged.

She was raised out of her thoughts by his soft voice cutting through to her.

"Sensei said people will be afraid of us if we go up", he said. "Why are you being nice?"

"I seen a lotta strange things in my life, kiddo", she sighed. "An' yer just one of 'em. Besides, I learned to judge people by their eyes, and you don't got no evil inside of ya. I could tell from da first moment."

"Sensei said you can learn a lesson from every day. That's my lesson for today", he told her.

"Dat sensei guy 'o yours sure was smart." Silver stood. "Don't spose he fed ya 'for ya left fer the great unknown."

"No", said Leo eagerly.

Silver smiled. She didn't know much about kids, but from what others said, they were always hungry. This proved to be true as the critter ate six slices of pre-frozen pizza before falling asleep promptly. She shook her head and went to bed. The child would be gone by tomorrow night. It was nothing to worry about.

* * *

Splinter silently peered through the slit in the manhole cover above him. He shut his eyes then; it was too dark to see. For a moment his body was in conflict. Over the past years, Splinter had come to an acceptance with his newly mutated body; however, his mind refused to acknowledge it, and so using the senses granted him by a rat's DNA was a wince-worthy thought.

Nonetheless he let his ears swivel and his nostrils open to check for other people or animals above. He could smell plenty of men and dogs; stray cats, mostly, and other rats. The animal part of him twitched somewhere deep inside as if longing to race and be a part of a pack. He fought it.

He could sense that a woman had been here recently. A young woman. Fresh-smelling and cleanly. Women always smell of something other than themselves - the coffee they drank regularly, their favourite shampoo. This one smelt mostly of cleaning supplies. He furrowed his brow in frustration. Her scent was overriding everything else.

After a few more moments, he confirmed that there was nothing dangerous on the surface; he fiddled with the lock on the cover above him until it clicked free, having been accidentally locked behind his son as he escaped, and scurried out, immediately heading back towards the furthest depths of the alley he emerged in. It was darkest there, where no eye of man could find him.

On his way he stumbled onto all fours as a refrigerator box caught his ankles; crouching for a moment, he listened, frozen, until he had confirmed that nobody had heard him. The woman's scent was all over this box. His mind wandered, eager for a distraction from his missing son; could she have bought a refrigerator recently? Was it safe for her here? No; no thoughts. He must find Leonardo.

The disturbing thing was that his sons smelt of hard water and mildew, and the distinctions between their scents were minuscule at the most; drenched in scent from their clinging hands and sleeping bodies as it was, finding a distinct trail to follow would be difficult. Making things worse, the sewer cover had been ajar - obviously, since his son did not know how to unlock it - and the scent of the underground had spilled out, dousing the alleyway strongly.

He raised into a man's stance, on his back legs, and sniffed the air for any sign of Leonardo. None were to be found. But his son could not have gotten far. Recognising these streets from his time as a man, he knew that the nearest subway station was two blocks down; if he did not find Leonardo before the child found himself on a subway or car, Splinter could lose him for good. The best thing was to search both sides of the street up and down for a block, and then turn corners and keep going, expanding outwards. It was too big a job for one man on his own, but Splinter reminded himself that he was a ninja; no, better yet, he was a father.

No job is too big for a father.


	3. Chapter 3

Silver froze, hearing something in the alley outside. She turned, and then pressed her face to the window. From here she had a sixth-story view.

Something was happening. Something clanked. A portion of the floor of the alley below shifted - the manhole cover?

And then the refrigerator box stumbled loudly into the glare of the streetlamp as if blundered aside by some large and imposing person. Her hands tightened on the windowsill and she glanced at the window to make sure it was locked.

She waited for many breaths until her body relaxed, realising that there was no visible danger. Still, she should check that the door was locked tightly...and then a huge form brushed past the window like a light-cancelling curtain and was gone. Silver shrieked a second after as her brain registered what had happened. The sleeping child on her couch started awake to find the woman who had saved him shaking and terrified beside the window.

Silver lunged at the window and flung it open, staring down the length of the building in search of something impossible. She swung her head around. The fire escapes flanking this window were 30 feet apart; nobody could have jumped that far.

It was a raccoon, she told herself. A gigantic raccoon.

She pulled her upper half back into the apartment's safety and shut the window, locking it, and then hurried around locking all the other points of entry. Leo looked dazedly alarmed, and she shot him a glance that she hoped was encouraging.

"Don't worry, kiddo. Just makin' sure."

He nodded off. Silver envied him. She fancied that sleep would come hard to her tonight.

* * *

Splinter clung to the wall of the building with his claws, parallel to the ground. He scurried past a window and heard a woman shriek; wincing, he hoped he had gone past fast enough that she hadn't made him out. He could not worry about the well-being of the humans. He must find his son.

Splinter looped up the building at a curved incline to the roof; he hauled himself over the substantial ledge and hurried along it, careful to conceal the clicks of his claws against the brick. At the same time he peered down at the sidewalk, hoping to see Leonardo wandering below. At the other edge of the building he scaled the wall all the way down into the next alley, made a circle, and then clambered back up the other side; in this way he scoured each alley until he came to the end of the block.

Nothing.

The ball of obedient energy and hard shell that was his eldest son must have found its way further than he had expected. Splinter looped around to the other side of the block and continued his searching all the way around until he was back at the building where he had started.

In the back of the alley there, Splinter formulated a plan to get across the street. He must work with what was at hand and consider: would one be more alarmed to see an enormous rodent running across the street, or a cardboard box with legs?

* * *

Silver kept up a vigil beside the window for some time. Every time she thought she could rest in peace, she would hear a noise below - a cat running around, the refrigerator box being tossed by the wind, the neighbour putting out his garbage - and her senses would be wired once more.

Then she saw a dark shape ooze along the bottom of the wall and shoved a fist into her mouth to stop herself from crying out. She reached for the dagger at her belt, which she carried with her always, although she knew that the creature could not reach her.

What was it? What was running past windows and hitting boxes in the middle of the night?

Then a long limb of some sort snagged the very box in question, and a moment later she could make out a cardboard box running across the road, though it was civil enough to wait for the stop light.

But in the middle of its run, something burst out of the back of the box.

A tail. A very rodent-like tail.

_He's a giant rat._

The rat sensei - he must have come to look for his missing son! There was no time to grab the kid. With nary a second thought, Silver launched herself down the apartment stairs, unlocked the door at the bottom, and hurried into the path of oncoming traffic. Never did she think the day would come when a cardboard box would have better street sense than she did.

* * *

Splinter paused to catch his breath in the alley across the way and discarded the refrigerator box. He stretched out his spine luxuriously, relieved to be free of the rather hindering armour, and then heard cars honking. He whipped around to see a young woman barrelling towards the very alley in which he was hidden.

The wind was in his favour, and without meaning to, he caught a whiff of her scent as he turned towards the fire escapes. She smelt strongly of cleaning supplies and was likely the same woman he'd smelt in the first alley.

He took a flying leap to the first fire escape and clambered up, smiling in satisfaction that the ladder rungs had not fallen down. Then he was over the rooftop and down the next alley.

* * *

Silver reached the alley to find it empty. She raced down the length of it and burst out on the other side, nearly sprawling over the curb, but catching her balance quickly.

There was no sign of the rat.

Then she remembered he had been on the wall earlier and whirled around just in time to catch a dark shape racing along the edge of the rooftop above her, away.

Silver ran to intercept him on the other side, but he was gone.

* * *

He dropped down into the sewer tunnel and hurried down to the next exit. He must shake this human off his tail to keep from hindering his search for his son.

* * *

Silver whirled in a couple circles, skirted the corner. At last she threw up her arms and tried one more time.

"Rat sensei! Wherever you are, I have your son!"

Feeling like an idiot, she stood there for a few minutes. Why had she expected anything to happen?

She returned home, remembering that she'd left the turtle kid there. She found him waiting obediently on the couch and sat down beside him with a sigh.

* * *

Splinter heard yelling up above, garbled and sounding like it came from underwater. When he emerged again there was no woman following him.


End file.
